Product: Legra Guitars 5150 Custom
Price Paid: N/A
Submitted
12/03/2005
at
06:06pm
by
Chris
Email: chris at hughes6085<dot>freeserve<dot>co<dot>uk
Features
:
10
Custom order from Bob Johnson @ www.legraguitars.co.uk in 2005.
-24 fret flamed maple neck, 'fast' profile
-Banana style headstock with an ebony veneer
-6 Bolt neck joint for better sustain
-Swamp ash body with contours & easy access neck joint, finished in trans Amber
-Carbon Fibre effect backplates
-Bareknuckle Pickups: Nailbomb Bridge Humbucker, Mothers Milk Neck single coil
-Gotoh Floyd Rose trem
-1 500k Tone & 1 500k Volume pots
It gets a 10 because its EXACTLY what i wanted!
Pictures:
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99/chrisola/CH5150.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99/chrisola/CH5150front2.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99/chrisola/CH5150Back2.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99/chrisola/CH5150Neck.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a99/chrisola/CH5150Body.jpg
Sound
:
9
I play rock\metal, everything from Thin Lizzy to In Flames!! My favourate bands are Iron Maiden and Helloween... this guitar gos smack bang into the realm of power metal... crunchy rhythm and soaring leads!
I've run it through a JCM800, a Line6 GuitarPort, and now i run it through my Engl Fireball. I dont use any effects at the moment, may get a delay pedal though.
The guitar is very quiet, and a little bright, but a quick tweak of the presence dial sorts that out!!
The guitar is VERY versatile.
It can do bowl churning crunch, with palm mutes that rattle windows... then ease the gain off and switch to the neck pickup for all the creamy singing leads you need, back the volume off on the guitar and do some 12 bar blues, then crank it again on the bridge to rip out some Van Halen (5150.. see!) licks.. this demon can do it all.
ONLY thing i'm going to change is the neck single coil, i want something with more output, so going to get it re-wound by Tim at Bareknuckle (another fantastic British based company!)
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
The build took about 6 weeks, which was a long wait for me, but a good time compared to some of the other luthiers i approached. And i knew from speaking to Bob that it was going to be more than worth the wait!!!
The guitar arrived in a nice black case with a gold Legra logo... i opened it up and couldnt believe how good it looked!!
The finish is superb,from the grain of the wood, to the necks feel and the routing of the neck joint and pickup holes.. not a single fault or less than 'spot on' thing i can see.. the last guitar id owned before getting the Legra was a Gibson Les Paul, and that was full of niggling quality issues :(
It was setup perfectly, and the locking trem was sorted and stays in tune no matter how much you abuse it.
I just recently changed the strings, and now it sounds like new again!!
Only slight down point is the ebony headstock veneer marks easily, i've put a couple of small dents in it by being clumsy... nothing noticable unless you REALLY look though heh!! (thank god!)... and it buzzes a little at the 7th\9th frets on the low strings.. but that will be remedied soon as Bob mentioned i may need to tweak the neck a little once it settles after a few weeks of playing.
Oh yeah, and it still slightly smells of raw\sawn wood, which is great haha!
Reliability/Durability
:
10
I dont gig, but id imagine it would do well. The finish is so good on the body and neck that i doubt anything would get messed up... the hardware is all top quality and well setup.
I'll have this guitar 20 years from now, and that makes it a 10.
Customer Support
:
10
I spoke to Bob Johnson (the craftsman behind Legra Guitars) for a couple of weeks before committing... we chatted about the specification, woods, colours etc... he was always helpful and offered advice, and was quick to reply to my emails (i believe it was 1 or 2 a day for a couple of weeks!).
Once id paid my deposit he set to work and emailed a couple of times a week with photos, and to clarify anything to do with the look of the guitar or the hardware. We even changed some things on the fly as they were getting made, in order to make it look its best.
Bottom line: I've dealt with many companies and spoke to a lot of luthiers in the run up to orderng my custom guitar, and Bob was the best... and it didnt cost the world either.. id had cheaper quotes but went with Bob as you can tell he genuinely loves what he does and cares about making something the customer will LOVE and not just like!
So yeah, 11/10 for this one. I'm already planning my next project for next year...
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been playing 5 or so years... over the years i've owned (in order):
-Vantage strat
-Epiphone SG Custom
-Gibson Les Paul Studio
-Fender Strat (a Jap made custom 'shredocaster')
-BC Rich Assassain (neck thru series)
-Godin Standard
-80's Charvel Model 4A
-ESP\LTD EC-1000 Custom
-MusicMan Silhouette Special
-Jackson RR5
-2003 Charvel Model A Standard
-2004 Gibson Les Paul Classic
This is my 13th guitar, looks like its my lucky number 13 eh?
This is the best guitar i;ve owned, with the MusicMan 2nd and the 2003 Charvel 3rd. Id say the worst guitar was the 2004 LP Classic, it developed dead spots in the neck and never stayed in tune!!!
If it was stolen, id hunt the guy down and beat him to death with his own shoes... thats after i was done calling Legra to build me another one!!!
